Evans Liberal Politics, September 16, 2010, compilation by Paul Evans:
News in Brief: Home Repossessions
Highest Since Crisis Began, and More …
News in Brief: Home Repossessions Highest Since Crisis Began, and More …, Truthout, September 16, 2010, by Mike Ludwig, excerpt quoted verbatim:
Home Repossessions Highest Since Crisis Began
The number of American homes lost to foreclosure is up 25 percent from the same time last year, and more homes were repossessed by lenders in August than in any month since the start of the mortgage crisis, according to an Associated Press report. The increase in repossessions comes even as overall foreclosure rate continues to slow for the seventh month in a row. Banks are repossessing more and more homes to clear backlogs of bad loans and prepare to start putting repossessed properties back on the market. A total of 95,364 homes were repossessed during the month of August, according to the report.
Tax Cuts for Richest Americans Would Add More Debt Than Healthcare Reform
The Senate Republicans’ plan to extend Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans would cost the US treasury $4 trillion over the next decade, according to a Washington Post report. The startling figure comes at a time when Republicans are attacking Democrats for deficit spending. The Congressional Budget Office reports that the plan, which would continue to provide tax breaks on estates worth more than $5 million for individuals, or $10 million for couples, could force the government to borrow trillions of dollars and increase interest payments on national debt to a level four times higher than the projected deficit impact of the healthcare overhaul. The Obama administration has recommended that lawmakers only extend tax cuts to Americans earning less than $250,000 a year.
Polls Show Voter Frustration Does Not Always Benefit Republicans
A recent poll shows that, by a nine-point margin, voters believe Republicans could gain control of both the House and the Senate following upcoming elections. The same voters were split 43 to 43 on which party they planned to vote for, however, which analysts say is a good sign for Democrats. The poll was conducted by Politico and George Washington University. A recent CBS/New York Times poll shows that, while 63 percent of voters are critical of Democratic policies, a total of 73 percent think Republican policies are even worse.
Illegal Drug Use Spikes
The rate of drug use in American rose 9 percent last year to the highest point in nearly a decade, according to a government report obtained by the Associated Press. About 21.8 million Americans reported using illegal drugs during 2009. An increase in marijuana use and dramatic increases in ecstasy and methamphetamine are to blame, according to the report. Critics of marijuana legalization were quick to blame the medical marijuana movement for encouraging more users, but proponents of marijuana legalization argued the ongoing drug war simply fails to prevent Americans from using the highly popular and non-lethal plant. Use of ecstasy and methamphetamine, which are more dangerous and addictive than marijuana, increased by 37 and 60 percent respectively. Cocaine use was down 36 percent from its peak in 2006.
More Americans are Poor than Ever Before, Census Finds
Focus on Poverty and Health Insurance
More Americans are Poor than Ever Before, Census Finds, Common Dreams.org, September 16, 2010, by Tony Pugh, quoted verbatim:
WASHINGTON – The withering recession pushed the number of Americans who are living in poverty to a 51-year high in 2009 and left a record 50.7 million people without health insurance last year, the Census Bureau announced Thursday.
The 43.6 million Americans who were poor in 2009 – up from 39.8 million the year before – was the most since poverty estimates were first published in 1959. The national poverty rate of 14.3 percent, up from 13.2 percent in 2008, was the highest since 1994.
Were it not for federal intervention in the form of extended unemployment insurance benefits, 3.3 million more people would have fallen into poverty last year, said David Johnson, the chief of the Census Bureau’s division on housing and household economics.
Food stamp benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program helped keep 2.3 million more people out of poverty.
Massive job losses and work reductions for hourly employees led the number of uninsured Americans to rise from 46.3 million people in 2008 to 50.7 million in 2009. The number of Americans who have health coverage decreased – from 255 million in 2008 to 253.6 million in 2009 – for the first time since the data began to be measured in 1987.
Most of that decline stemmed from a loss in the percentage of people who have private and job-based coverage. The number of people with either fell from 201 million in 2008 to 194.5 million last year. The percentage with job-based coverage fell from 58.5 percent in 2008 to 55.8 percent last year, the lowest coverage rate since 1987.
As more people lost jobs and were unable to afford private coverage, enrollment spiked in government insurance programs such as Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. In all, the number of people with government-sponsored coverage went from 87.4 million in 2008 to 93.2 million last year.
Census Report on Poverty on the Web:
Census report on income, poverty and health coverage in 2009 (PDF)
Recommended: See One in Three Americans Lacked the Income Needed to “Make Ends Meet” in 2009; Young Adults Among the Hardest Hit, Truthout, September 16, 2010, by Shawn Fremstad.
See The Recession’s Awful Impact, The New York Times, Editorial, September 16, 2010.
See Income, Poverty & Health Insurance, Daily Markets, September 12, 2010, by Dirk Van Dijk: who says businessman cant think straight?
See Statement: Robert Greenstein, Executive Director, on Census’ 2009 Poverty and Health Insurance Data, Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) News Release, September 16, 2010, by Robert Greenstein.
See Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2009, IRP Poverty Dispatch, September 16, 2010, no author given.
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